I don’t think this is very balanced reporting. I’m not happy with the level of complexity involving this matter and the over-simplification with which it is being discussed. Look at the answer from the Greg Hershberger – this is typical conservative rhetoric (of which I am conservative – but come on, he isn’t even thinking) and misses the point that 65% of the rich are paying 30% or more. So it isn’t a matter of whether the people producing should pay more tax, it is more about whether the person that invests his money in an actual company should pay more than the person that just invests his money in the stock. If the person buying the company pays himself more as the company makes more, he will get taxed on payroll taxes (33% at the highest rate). It is nothing but the lobbying activy of the traders, hedge fund managers, and the investment comunity that has created this gap, and Warren is suggesting that it be closed. He didn’t ask to reform the entire tax code and he didn’t suggest that this would solve our financial crisis. What it would do is get rid of some of the concern that the rich are getting richer by changing the rules – not because they are working harder, or smarter (cheating excluded). It doesn’t matter how much logic we use, some people have no interest in playing by the rules. You also didn’t mention that the second applause was louder than the first, and people seem to forget that Warren’s father was a republican congressman. RW